Progressive Education

You dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a f**in’ education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library. – Will, Good Will Hunting

Sorry, sir, You don’t have proper schooling, you don’t have a degree. A common trend I’ve seen a lot of in the states. I’ve seen people boast about their degrees or titles. Nowadays, looking at education, talking to kids, it’s amazing how things are turning out. We are being conditioned to a system that truly just teaches to memorize and what we learn, not applied.

I watched good will hunting the other day and it had me stop and think. For the most part, I could associate myself with Will. He is considered a genius, self taught and a nact for excelling. For me, school was always easy, boring but easy so I hardly tried or cared for. After I graduated high school, I found myself deleting information and relearning various subjects. I found myself researching and reading everything/anything that I was curious about. And the more I did, the less I cared about college.

Like I’ve stated, people like boasting at times they went to school, only to end up working a job they don’t want or love, only “need” it, to survive. I’ve seen people going to a trade school or skipping it altogether and finding ways to make more than someone with a degree. What people need to realize is that intelligence is not determined by an iq test, degree, and etc. Question what you’re taught and do your own research as well.

Now sure, I might be going for a degree in biblical studies but do I really need that? Paul and the other apostles read the word and allowed the spirit to impart wisdom onto them. They didn’t go to seminary. Yet what I see even in the church is a sense of entitlement. I can’t preach because I’m not a leader or pastor? I can’t discuss matters because I don’t hold a degree? Now sure, some qualifications may precede, be ordained, studied materials and subjects. I’m not saying all of it is worthless or a waste. When done properly and applied, education is shown to create progress and change. It’s the mindset.

When I first came to the realization that I’m a writer, a constant thought plagued me. I thought, “I have no creative writing experience, my grammar is iffy, and my punctuation isn’t the best. A year later, here I am. I would read about writers who just decided to write, they didn’t major in English. They inspired me to keep going, to not be restricted by how I should word something but to truly reveal the message carved in my heart. Just the same, I stand in between people and preach, being self taught. Like I stated, whatever I didn’t know how to do, I learned. I would spend hours looking and learning til I understood something.

We’ve lost the drive as people. I hear people nowadays just say, I can’t wait to finish school, get a job, maybe get married, then hopefully retire. It is as if we have taken it as a chore, spending 12-20 years of our lives just to say we did it and go to a 9 to 5, til we can vacation. Instead of going with a mindset of what can I learn so that I may apply it and change the world. Where have our dreams gone to? Some people say we simply woke up, but I say, you’ve merely become distracted by the fantasy.

This isn’t supposed to make you feel good, it is a matter of conviction. What are you really doing with your life? Are you waiting for those 30 years to end and then just let it be tossed away, or are going to continue to move forward, help bring change? Are you going to spend thousands on something you could learn and may need to invest in that company, future? These are questions we must answer. I’m not saying college, universities, are bad. What I’m conveying is, is it going to define who you are, what you do, or will you simply hide behind it and later in life let it fade, only leaving a dent in your life. It’s okay to have goals, dreams, proper education, but let it create a better you, progression, and never forsaking the potential within you.